Hina Dolls

Category

Library Item

Item no

19002

Title

Hina Dolls

Artist / maker

Kano, Kyusei Sanenobu

Date

1845

Size

28.8 x 14.5 cm

Type

Ink and colour; Mixed media

Location

Art and Design Library

From an album of miniature hanging scrolls:

The festival of Hina-matsuri (known in English as Girls' Day) traditionally took place on the third day of the third month in the lunar calendar. A set of ornamental dolls representing the imperial court in the robes of the Heian period (794-1185) was displayed on a platform covered with a red cloth.

This album comprises 76 pages of miniature paintings (and some calligraphies), the majority by artists of the Kano lineage, who worked for the ruling military regime. Each work is signed and sealed in miniature, and has been given a full brocade mounting as if it were a hanging scroll.

Information provided by Dr Rosina Buckland (National Museum of Scotland).

This album was donated to Edinburgh City Libraries by Marie Ferguson Dyer in honour of her father Henry Dyer. Dyer was a Scottish engineer who became the first Principal of the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokyo in 1872.

Exhibitions with this item

Other views of this item

Related images

Read how our collections have inspired people taking part in events, visits and community groups. Use the slider or navigation arrows to see more responses.